Ski binding adjustment device

ABSTRACT

A ski binding has a means for approximately and finely adjusting the longitudinal position of a slidably mounted binding body, including a rack fixed on the base plate and a worm screw fixed axially to the binding body, or vice versa. The screw has a longitudinal interruption along its thread which when brought facing the rack disengages the screw from the rack to allow the binding body to be slid to an approximate position, turning of the screw by a fraction of a turn then serving to provide a fine setting.

United States Patent 11 1 Begey et al.

[ Nov. 25, 1975 1 1 SKI BINDING ADJUSTMENT DEVICE [75] Inventors: Jean-Marie Begey; Alain Neau, both of Cluses, France [73] Assignee: Mitchell S.A., France [22] Filed: Nov. 11, 1974 [21] Appl, No.: 522,869

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 16, 1973 France 73.40980 [52] U.S. Cl 280/ll.35 T [51] Int. Cl. A63C 9/08 [58] Field of Search 280/1135 T; 74/435; 85/1 L [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,675,937 7/1972 Laszlo 280/1135 T 3,702,194 11/1972 llzuka 280/1135 T 3,807,748 4/1974 Ramillon 1 280/1135 T 3,810,644 5/1974 Beyl 280/1135 T Primary ExaminerRobert R. Song Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert E. Burns; Emmanuel J. Lobato; Bruce L. Adams [57] ABSTRACT A ski binding has a means for approximately and finely adjusting the longitudinal position of a slidably mounted binding body, including a rack fixed on the base plate and a worm screw fixed axially to the binding body, or vice versa. The screw has a longitudinal interruption along its thread which when brought facing the rack disengages the screw from the rack to allow the binding body to be slid to an approximate position, turning of the screw by a fraction of a turn then serving to provide a fine setting.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures U.S Patent N0v.25, 1975 Sheet 1 of2 3,921,997

US. Patent Nov.25, 1975 Sheet2of2 3,921,997

halrlplx SKI BINDING ADJUSTMENT DEYICE Thus, French Pat. No. 2,l53,827 de'scribes'an ar-' rangement in which a slide fixed on a ski supports a slidably mounted binding body and a setting unit. The setting unit has a casing carrying a setting screw axially fixed in the casing and which cooperates with a nut fixed to the binding body. The setting unit casing also has a lever of which one end is biased by a spring into engagement with one of a series of notches in the slide, the other end of this lever serving as means for disengaging the first end. To carry out a rough setting of the longitudinal position of the binding body, the lever is firstly actuated to disengage it from one notch and thus free the setting unit and binding body, and then engaged in another notch after having manually slid the binding body and adjustment unit to a new position. A

fine setting of the position of the binding body is then achieved by turning the setting screw.

French Pat. No. 2,100,286 describes an arrangement in which a slide fixed on a ski supports a slidably mounted binding body. A setting screw, axially fixed to the slide, cooperates with a half nut fixed to the binding body. This half nut is mounted to be able to slide transversally to and from the screw, and is biased by a spring into engagement with the screw. To approximately set the longitudinal position of the binding body, first it is necessary to actuate a push piece cooperating with the half nut to disengage it from the screw, then re-engage the screw after having manually shifted the binding body. Fine adjustment is then carried out by actuating the setting screw.

In these prior arrangements,'setting of the longitudinal position of the binding on the ski is thus a fairly long operation, which is not convenient when such setting has to be carried out frequently, for example in the case of skis for hire. When skis are hired out, not only is setting liable to be carried out everyday, but the mechanic carrying out setting may have to set a large number of bindings in a short time, in particular at peak hours.

An object of the invention is to avoid this drawback by providing a binding in which approximate and fine setting of the longitudinal position of the binding-body can be carried out by a single actuating means which enables setting to be carried out easily and rapidly.

In the binding according to the invention, the means for adjusting the longitudinal position of the binding comprise a rack cooperating with a worm screw both disposed axially to the ski, the rack being fixed axially on the ski and the screw fixed axially on the binding, or vice versa. The screw has an interruption of its thread extending along its entire length. When this interrup 2 With a binding according to theinvention it is possi-' ble to carry out approximate and fine setting by means of single actuating means formed by the worm screw.

To carry out approximate setting, the screw is simply turned by'a fraction of a turn to disengage the screw from the rack and the binding body is thenv manually shifted along its slide; the screw is then re-engaged by turning it by a fraction of-a turn in either direction. This involves a simultaneous fine setting bysuitably selecting theang'ular displacement of the screw and its direction of rotation.

I The accompanyingdrawings show, by way of example, several embodiments of the invention. In the draw- Ings:

FIG; 1 is a side elevational view, partly in cross-section along line II of FIG. 2, of a first, embodiment of binding secured on a ski;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are partial cross-sections taken along line II--II of FIG. 1 and respectively showing a disengaged and an enagaged positionof the screw;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a variation of the first embodiment;

I FIG. 5 is side elevational view, partly in cross-section, of a second embodiment of binding; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are cross-sectional views of a part of a varied embodiment respectively in a disengaged and an engaged position. I I

The binding shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 includes an elongate base plate 1 forming a slide secured axially on a ski 2. A rack 3, disposed axially to the ski, is formed by a plurality of transverse grooves on the upper surface of plate 1. A binding body 4, of a front or rear binding, in- 'cludes a casing 5 having channeled edges 6 able to slide along corresponding rail-forming flanged edges of slide 1. The casing 5' supports a bearing 16 in which a smooth cylindrical end 7 of a control rod 8 may freely turn, the rod 8 being disposed in casing 5 parallel to its longitudinal axis. The remainder of the rod 8 is of polygonal section and has, towards its headed end, a ring 9 keyed thereon, this ring being able to turn in a corresponding circular opening in frame 5. On the polygonal part of rod 8 is keyed and slidably mounted a worm screw 10 which is biased in the direction of arrow 11 against ring 9 by a compression coil spring 12, this spring 12 acting against a pin 13 fixed transversally to rod 8. Spring 12 acts to exert a force as indicated by arrow 14 against a boot sole when a boot-is secured in the binding; it also serves to prevent any unwanted rotation of rod 8. The worm screw 10 has an interruption in its thread formed by a flat 15 parallel to its longitudinal axis. The flat 15 is such that when it is disposed facing rack 3, as shown in FIG. 2, the thread of screw 10 does not engage in the teeth of rack 3.

To set the longitudinal position of the binding body 4, the worm screw 10 is rotated by turning control rod 8, in either direction, to bring it to the position of FIG. 2 with flat 15 facing rack 3. As soon as worm screw 10 is in this disengaged position, a manually exerted force on the binding in the direction of arrow 14 or 11 enables the binding body 4 to be rapidly shifted along slide 1 to roughly adjust its position. As soon as the binding body 4 is approximately in position, it suffices to rotate rod 8 by a fraction of a turn to re-engage screw 10 with rack 3. According to the direction of rotation of rod 8, as the screw 10 engages rack 3 the binding body 4 moves towards or away from the boot sole. Rotation of the rod 8 to a greater or lesser degree, always less than a full turn, enables exact setting of the position of binding 3 body 4. The finer the pitch of worm screw 10, the more precise are the rough and fine settings.

According to the variation of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the adjustment device additionally comprises a graduated scale 20 fixed on the ski 2 (or on the base plate 1) and disposed facing a reference mark 21 on the binding body 4. The distance between successive graduations of scale 20 is equal to the pitch of the worm screw, and the scale is positionned longitudinally such that the reference mark 21 is disposed in exact alignment with a graduation of scale 20 when the worm screw is in the disengaged position of FIG. 2 with its threads exactly facing the corresponding grooves of the rack 3.

Hence, after having manually shifted the binding body 4, to engage the screw 10 with the rack 3 without hesitation it suffices to bring the reference mark 21 facing any one of the graduations. When the rod 8 is turned, the threads of screw 10 thus immediately engage in the grooves of the rack 3.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of binding in which a rack 3, disposed axially to the ski, is fixed on the binding body 4 and is thus able to move along slide 1 at the same time as binding body 4. A worm screw is axially fixed relative to the ski. To this end, the control rod 8 supporting screw 10 is not disposed in the casing of the binding body, but in an external casing 25, fixed on the ski, rack 3 being able to slide under casing 25. Spring 12 is disposed between ring 9 and the worm screw 10 which it pushes in the direction of arrow 14. All of the other components are identical to those previously described for the first embodiment.

Setting of the second embodiment is carried out as before. The only difference in operation resides in the fact that during setting of the longitudinal position of the binding body, it is the rack that moves relative to the screw, and not the converse.

The variation of the first embodiment, shown in FIG. 4, can also be embodied, without change, in the second embodiment.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show a variation applicable to all of the preceding embodiments. In this variation, the transverse profile of the upper face of the rack 30, instead of being rectilinear as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, is formed as an arcuate protuberance. The longitudinal interruption of the threads of screw 10 is formed by a recess 31 i of arcuate cross-section corresponding to that of the protuberance on rack 30. An advantage of this arrangement is that a very small rotation of screw 10 suffices to engage it with the rack 30. All of the other components rapidly, in particular bindings for skis on hire.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustment device for a ski binding, comprising; a slide structure fixed longitudinally on a ski; a binding structure on the slide structure; and means for approximately and for finely adjusting positions of the binding structure on the slide structure, said adjusting means comprising a rack cooperating with a worm screw both disposed axially to the ski, the rack being fixed axially on one of said structures and the screw being fixed axially on the other structure, the screw including an interruption of its thread extending along its entire length to enable disengagement of the screw from the rack.

2. A device according to claim 1, comprising a graduated scale fixed on the ski parallel to the slide, and a scale. a I

3. A device according to claim 2, in which when the screw is disengaged from the rack, said reference mark. is disposed in exact alignment with one of the graduations of said scale when the threads of the screw are disposed exactly facing corresponding recesses of the rack.

4. In a ski binding including a plate fixable on a ski with a longitudinal axis of the plate parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ski, and a binding body movably mounted on the plate, a device, for roughly and finely setting the position of the body relative to the plate along said longitudinal axis, said device comprising a rack cooperating with a worm screw, one of the rack and screw being axially fixed on the plate and the other reference mark on the binding cooperating with said of the rack and screw being axially fixed on the body,

the screw including an elongated helical thread having means defining therealong a longitudinal interruption at a given angular location, and means for enabling rotation of the screw between an angular position in which said interruption is in alignment with the rack whereby the body can be moved freely along the plate,

and angular positions which said thread engages with a selected part of the rack to set the body at given axial locations relative to the plate. 

1. An adjustment device for a ski binding, comprising; a slide structure fixed longitudinally on a ski; a binding structure on the slide structure; and means for approximately and for finely adjusting positions of the binding structure on the slide structure, said adjusting means comprising a rack cooperating with a worm screw both disposed axially to the ski, the rack being fixed axially on one of said structures and the screw being fixed axially on the other structure, the screw including an interruption of its thread extending along its entire length to enable disengagement of the screw from the rack.
 2. A device according to claim 1, comprising a graduated scale fixed on the ski parallel to the slide, and a reference mark on the binding cooperating with said scale.
 3. A device according to claim 2, in which when the screw is disengaged from the rack, said reference mark is disposed in exact alignment with one of the graduations of said scale when the threads of the screw are disposed exactly facing corresponding reCesses of the rack.
 4. In a ski binding including a plate fixable on a ski with a longitudinal axis of the plate parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ski, and a binding body movably mounted on the plate, a device for roughly and finely setting the position of the body relative to the plate along said longitudinal axis, said device comprising a rack cooperating with a worm screw, one of the rack and screw being axially fixed on the plate and the other of the rack and screw being axially fixed on the body, the screw including an elongated helical thread having means defining therealong a longitudinal interruption at a given angular location, and means for enabling rotation of the screw between an angular position in which said interruption is in alignment with the rack whereby the body can be moved freely along the plate and angular positions which said thread engages with a selected part of the rack to set the body at given axial locations relative to the plate. 